1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wireless communication system with a number of controllable electronic devices and a mobile station for remotely controlling such electronic devices through a short-range wireless communication link such a radio link, an infra-red link, or any other suitable wireless link. The mobile station can be dedicated to such remote control functionality or can be multifunctional device combining remote control functionality and other functionality such as cellular or cordless functionality, or the like.
The present invention further relates to a method of remotely controlling a controllable electronic device, to a mobile station and to a controllable electronic device in such a system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the PCT Application WO 98/49818 a mobile station is disclosed with combined mobile telephony and remote control terminal functionalities. The mobile station can act as a remote control unit for a variety of peripheral devices accessible through some type of local area communication system or related communication system. The peripheral devices are remotely actuatable in response to a set of predetermined control commands. A control command module within the mobile station generates the variety of control commands to which the peripheral devices are responsive. The control commands are transmitted to the peripheral device via a wireless communication link that is set up between the peripheral device and the control command module. Local interfaces that apply a single communication protocol are included in electronic communication devices otherwise connected to an external communication network. Through the single communication protocol each of the local interfaces is capable of effecting wireless communication with the other local interface modules. In FIG. 4 of WO 98/49818, a local area communication system is shown with local communication links between a mobile radio station, and, through local interface modules, a variety of peripheral devices such as hands-free headsets, television sets, radio sets, VCRs, etceteras. Through the local interface modules the peripheral devices can also communicate with each other. A user of the mobile radio station enters control commands through a user interface of the mobile station. A command control module comprised in the mobile station processes the control commands. A variety of command formats may be used to control the peripheral device through some types of command module. Either standard wireless communication protocols or a propriety protocol, on a single local communication medium may be used. The local interface modules may be integrated in the housing of the mobile station or may be disposed in a separate housing such that it forms a plugable unit.
In the U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,211 a universal multimedia access device is disclosed. The universal multimedia device accesses a predetermined one of a number of multimedia applications using an appropriate Application Specific (AS)-module interfaced thereto. A multimedia network delivers diverse multimedia applications such as high-speed data access (Internet), phone service, energy management, home security, and video. A transceiver operates to transmit and receive RF signals associated with a predetermined one of the multimedia applications specified by the AS-module. The MM-device further comprises a processing unit in communication with the transceiver and the AS-module. The processor identifies the AS-module interfaced to the MM-device and determines the predetermined MM-application associated with the AS-module. The processing unit then commands the transceiver to communicate with the MM-network in a mode associated with the MM-application. The AS-module includes a corresponding AS-transceiver for communicating multimedia information with an application device coupled thereto. This multimedia information can include video signals, data signals, voice signals, and control signals. In an embodiment, the AS-module enables the universal MM-device to communicate analog or digital control signals between the MM-network and an application device such as a home control device or an energy control device. A suitable connector is included in the AS-module to facilitate connection with a control application device. The universal MM-access apparatuses are thus built as a common architectural implementation based on a multimedia access engine providing a MM-application programming interface to diverse applications, while employing an access method to gain access to/from the network. Each AS-module has an interface for removable “plug-and-play” installation in the universal MM-access apparatus, and a further interface for connecting and disconnecting appropriate application devices. The processing unit is comprised of a microprocessor that is operative to provide a programmable platform for the apparatus. The transceiver is tunable over a range of frequencies within a predetermined frequency spectrum of which portions are assignable to a variety of multimedia applications. Upon powering up, the processing unit identifies the application from an identification signal received from the AS-module. Next, the processing unit commands the transceiver into a predefined mode required by the previously identified application. A control AS-module interfaced to a MM-device may include a variety of control transceivers. A variety of wireless platforms may be utilized in the transceiver of the MM-device. The wireless transceivers can utilize frequency reuse.
Both in the PCT Application WO 98/49818 and in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,211, specific plugable interface modules need to be provided to interface a particular controllable electronic device to a device for controlling the electronic device, the controllable electronic devices having specific control interface with specific control commands. Once provided with a specific controllable interface module, the controllable electronic device can be controlled by configuring the controlling device accordingly, or by selecting a suitable set of control commands in the controlling device. Providing specific interface modules renders a system with many different controllable electronic devices complicated, inflexible, and expensive. In addition thereto, a universal control device becomes complicated and will require a large storage capacity to store a large number of different sets of control commands.
In the Japanese Abstract 09 153 952, a mobile terminal is disclosed to remotely control an electric appliance by using a mobile terminal call number. The user dials a control code to remotely control a switch of a lighting fixture, or the like. In a radio message, the control code is transmitted to a controller controlling electric appliances. The dialed controller checks whether the received control code is present in a lookup table. If so, the lighting fixture is switched on.
In the Microsoft® handbook, “MCSE: TCP/IP Study Guide”, Sybex, 1997, pages 3, 16-24, and 421, basic principles are disclosed as to TCP/IP Protocols, and browsing through the Internet. As defined on page 3, a TCP/IP protocol suite is a Transmission Control/Internet Protocol set that an application can use to package its information for sending across a link. On pages 16-17, a physical data flow and a logical data flow are shown on a physical channel between system entities, basically in terms of the well-known OSI (Open System Interconnection) Reference model of layers, the OSI reference model distinguishing seven layers, a physical layer, a data link layer, a network layer, a transport layer, a session layer, a presentation layer, and an application layer. Depending on a particular application several layers may be combined to a single layer. In accordance with the OSI reference model, the physical data flow between system entities occurs through all layers between the entities, whereas the logical data flow is defined as a peer to peer communication between corresponding layers of the entities. As defined on page 421, a Uniform Resource Locator, a URL, is the standard naming convention on the Internet, a browser is tool for navigating and accessing information on the Internet, usually in the form of Web pages hosted by a server, an HTTP, HyperText Transport Protocol, is a protocol specification used by the browser to send requests and by the server to respond to the requests, and HTML, Hyper Text Markup Language, is the document standard for Internet Web pages.
In the Bluetooth Specification, “Specification of the Bluetooth System—Core”, v1.0A, Jul. 26, 1999, pp. 41-45, 191, 249, 325, 328-330, 335-336, 342-347, 387, and 504-513, WAP, Wireless Access Protocol, in the Bluetooth Piconet is disclosed, and a general description of the Bluetooth system as related to WAP. In WAP communications, a client device communicates with a server device using the WAP protocols. A communication can be initiated by a client or by a server device. Upon initiation, a so-called Bluetooth Service Discovery Protocol is started to find the other one of the client/server pair. Client addressing is mainly done through Uniform Resource Locators, URLs, as used with Internet browsers. URLs are text strings that describe the document that is accessed. On page 508, a WAP Protocol Stack is shown, entities of the protocol stack further being defined on said pages 41-45, 191, 249, 325, 328-330, 335-336, 342-347, 387. On page 41, a general description of BT, Bluetooth, a short-range radio link, is given. On page 42, a BT piconet with masters and slaves is shown. On pages 43-45, the BT physical channel, with time slots, is shown. Page 45 describes types of links between masters and slaves, a master being a link initiator, and a slave being the device accessed by the master. Pages 191; 249; 325, 328-330, 335-336, 342-347; and 387 describe LMP messages; the L2CAP; the Service Discovery Protocol; and the RFCOMM protocol; respectively.